Duke Withstands Georgia Tech’s Charges, Wins 65-61 For 18th ACC Title

Today’s ACC Tournament Championship pits the No. 1 seeded Duke Blue Devils against the No. 7 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Both teams are safely in the NCAA Tournament field of 65, so this one is largely for bragging rights in the ACC. This will be the third meeting between these two ACC clubs in the tournament final.

Duke has advanced to the Championship game by outlasting #9 Virginia and #12 Miami. The Blue Devils struggled to put away both opponents, but had some timely buckets down the stretch to advance to the finals.

The Duke Blue Devils were favored to defeat Virginia and they did just that, 57-46. It wasn’t east for Duke early as the two teams were tied at 29 when the first half buzzer sounded. Duke outplayed Virginia in every phase of the game, including shooting, ball security, rebounding, and from the free throw line. The three-headed monster of Singler, Scheyer, and Smith had a combined 48 points and 22 rebounds. Duke wasn’t dominant, they were simply better.

Virginia’s season is likely over and Cavs fans have to be pleased with the progress made under first year coach Tony Bennet. Duke moves on to play Miami tomorrow in the semi-final round.

Virginia Tech vs. Miami, 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2

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The battle between North Carolina State and Clemson started out ugly and finished in a flourish of excitement. But the game ended just as the first half did with the 11th-seeded Wolf Pack on top of the 6-seed Tigers, 59-57. State’s Tracy Smith had 19 points on 9-15 shooting to go with 8 rebounds. Clemson’s Trevor Booker had 17 points on 7-11 shooting. The ‘Pack didn’t handle the Clemson press all that well but State did grab an offensive rebound on 40% of its missed shots. But State’s bench outscored the Tigers’ 21-16 and that depth proved to be the difference in a second half that featured sixty percent more scoring than the first. As a 7-point underdog, State was the largest upset on a day that featured many upsets.

Tech will play the 2-seed Maryland Terrapins Friday. The Yellow Jackets are thought to be on the right side of the bubble and winning a game they were expected to win should help their case. Carolina’s season it would probably like to forget is now over. Many expect things to be better in 2011 for the Heels as Carolina returns most of its young talent and is expected to bring in some talented recruits as well.

One way that the Virginia Cavaliers could snap a nine game losing streak was from getting hot from behind the arc. Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski did just that, connecting on 5-of-10 from 3 point range to lead the Cavaliers past the 8th seeded Eagles 68-62. Zeglinski scored a game-high 21 points, while Mike Scott contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds. The Cavs led by as many as 11 points in the second half, and hit some timely free throws down the stretch to preserve the victory.

The Cavaliers advance to the quarterfinals to play top-seeded Duke. In their only matchup with the Blue Devils this season, the Cavs - without leading scorer Sylven Landesberg - got crushed at home 67-49. If the Cavs are to upset Duke, they’ll have to do it again without the services of Landesberg.

In the ACC Tournament nightcap, the 6th seeded Clemson Tigers take on the 11th seeded N.C. State Wolfpack. The winner faces the 3rd seeded Florida State Seminoles.

Clemson enters the ACC Tournament with a record of 21-9 (9-7 ACC). The Tigers are coming off a disappointing 70-65 loss to Wake Forest. The Deacons were able to keep Tigers leading scorer Trevor Booker in check, and shots just weren’t falling for Clemson that night. Oliver Purnell’s squads shot only 38 percent from the field, and were only able connect on 5 of 25 three point attempts. Demontez Stitt led the Tigers with 18 points, all in the second half. The loss sent the Tigers hurdling down the ACC standings. A win over Wake would have secured the tournament’s 3 seed (and a crucial first round bye). Instead, the Tigers loss coupled with an FSU over Miami jumped the Noles all the way up to the 3 seed.

The third game of the ACC Tournament’s opening round pits the No. 7 seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets against the No. 10 ... yes, you read that right ... No. 10 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels. This game is the only game of today’s opening round slate to be broadcast on national television. The winner of this game will move on to play the second seeded Maryland Terrapins on Friday night at 7 PM.

In their last game, Georgia Tech fell to the Virginia Tech Hokies 88-82, finishing the regular season with a mark of 19-11, 7-9 ACC. The Jackets stormed out of the gate with a 16-5 record, only for Paul Hewitt to watch his team drop six of their last nine contests down the stretch. The only wins in that stretch came at the expense of teams further down the ACC totem pole, namely BC, North Carolina and N.C. State. Not exactly resume building 101 here. A program that seemed a near lock for the NCAA Tournament a month ago now has a bit of work left to do, and quite frankly, the natives are getting restless. A loss in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament by Georgia Tech may very well dash any hopes of a return to the Big Dance.